stop the world (cause i wanna get out)
by Marvelgeek42
Summary: Harry dies in the Forbidden Forest. Then, he wakes up in Shell Cottage earlier that day. Repeatedly.


**This was written in under two hours, because I had planned to write something like this for a while (since I saw the** ** _Mystery Spot_** **episode of** ** _Supernatural_** **) and the** ** _Groundhog Day_** **event at** ** _Hogwarts_** **gave me an excuse to do so.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Word Count: 1,200**

* * *

 _ **stop the world (cause i wanna get out)**_

* * *

"I thought he would come. I expected him to come. I was, it seems...mistaken," Voldemort seemed reluctant to admit it to his followers.

Harry summoned all of his Gryffindor courage to answer with a steady voice as he, finally, stepped onto the small clearing and spoke "You weren't."

Without the intention of doing so, he slowly let go off the stone as he did so, the images of his parents, Sirius, and Remus vanishing immediately, but Harry didn't bend to to retrieve it.

He spotted Hagrid on the sidelines, crying and begging Harry to turn around, but he didn't.

He registered all the assembled Death Eaters—the Malfoys, Lestranges, and Dolohov were some of those he recognized—but it truly did not matter.

The scene could happen in the middle of the Great Hall or on a deserted island just as well; nothing mattered but the two of them.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort mouthed softly. It was almost indistinguishable from the many sounds of the forest itself. "The Boy Who Lived...come to die."

He made no move to defend himself against the green light that originated from Voldemort's wand, no move to duck or to attack Nagini.

The beam his Harry's chest and-

* * *

When he woke up again, he didn't know where he was for a second. It couldn't be the ground of the forest.

It was too dry and too light for that.

Was this the afterlife, perhaps? Sirius had said that dying was quicker and easier than falling asleep, after all.

Then, he heard Hermione's voice telling him to get up.

"Griphook is already waiting outside and you know it's not easy to wake Ron up. We need to hurry if we want to leave before anyone else gets up!"

She left the minute he had sat up in bed, but he was completely perplexed.

That was what had happened before they had left for Gringotts—had that really only been that morning?—but that wasn't possible, was it?

* * *

Harry was almost in a stupor as the same things he remembered happened again.

They got the Cup, Griphook stole the sword, they went to Hogwarts, and Harry entered the clearing a second time, alone again.

Had everything been a dream? Or was he really back in time? He had no way to know for sure, at least not at this point.

Should it happen again, though…

* * *

"Harry, wake up," Hermione shook him awake. "Griphook is already waiting outside and you know it's not easy to wake Ron up. We need to hurry if we want to leave before anyone else gets up!"

"I'm up, Hermione."

Maybe this time around, he could improve things, save the lives of numerous innocents.

It didn't work out as planned. Even more people died than before.

* * *

"Harry, wake up," Hermione shook him awake. "Griphook is already waiting outside and you know it's not easy to wake Ron up. We need to hurry if we want to leave before anyone else gets up!"

It was tempting, to simply lie back down again, but he couldn't do that. Too many would die.

He needed to figure out what he could do to improve what happened.

This time around, he observed more than he fought, and that did not end well.

* * *

"Harry, wake up," Hermione shook him awake. "Griphook is already waiting outside and you know it's not easy to wake Ron up. We need to hurry if we want to leave before anyone else gets up!"

"I know, Hermione. I'm working on it."

It was his fifth attempt now, and he had realized that he would need to at least try for the best possible outcome.

This time loop had started without an explanation, it could end without one as well.

He still died, as did many others. He liked to think it were less each and every time, but if he was honest, he knew he was fooling himself.

* * *

"Harry, wake up," Hermione shook him awake. "Griphook is already waiting outside and you know it's not easy to wake Ron up. We need to hurry if we want to leave before anyone else gets up!"

He groaned.

Maybe seven was indeed a lucky number for him.

* * *

It wasn't. Neither were thirteen, twenty, twenty-five, or forty-nine.

No matter what he did, people were still dying. Every time he saved someone, he doomed someone else.

One morning, he had just allowed himself to cry while they were escaping on the dragon, to grieve for all those lost lives, that no one but him knew of.

"Mate, is everything okay?" Ron asked.

"No," Harry admitted. "Not really. I am tired of all this."

He didn't explain, instead choosing to let them make assumptions.

"It's going to be over soon," Hermione tried to sound like she trusted her words. "We have most of the Horcruxes now, and by tomorrow we will find a way to get rid of it. This not going to be the same way it was with the locket."

"I should bloody well hope so," Ron commented quietly.

 _Well, what if there is no tomorrow?_ Harry wanted to scream at his friend. _There wasn't one today or any other time in the past months._

But he didn't do that, instead choosing to keep his pain to himself.

* * *

"Harry, wake up," Hermione shook him awake once again. "Griphook is-"

"Already waiting outside. I'll go talk to him, you go and get Ron."

As he stormed outside, Harry tired to think of things he could improve. If he could get the goblin to let them have the sword a little while longer, then Ron and Hermione wouldn't need to go to the Chamber, but instead fight with them, which in turn could only mean advantages on their side.

If he would activate the coins while they rode the dragon, then everyone on their side had more time to get there and maybe more would. Harry couldn't be sure if anyone else had been trying to figure out a way to join them, after all.

They could apparate directly inside the Hog's Head which, while rude, would give them more time until the Death Eaters noticed what they were planning to do.

They wouldn't listen to Aberforth's story and instead enter the tunnel directly.

He would need to get everyone out of the Room, so he could send them to wake up McGonagall and the other teachers. They could start with the defenses and maybe they could even start to evacuate the younger years, though of course the Ravenclaws would have to be last, to give them as much time as possible.

He hadn't used all of these ideas at the same time before, so it was worth a try.

By now, Harry had reached the outside of Shell's Cottage. He could see the impatient goblin waiting for him. It was time to start with his plan.

"Griphook, I am afraid that I will need to keep the sword another day," Harry said to the goblin. "I am willing to pay a fee for the delay. Unfortunately, I cannot get to my vault, but would you be willing to accept the legendary Resurrection Stone as a promise to pay it?"

* * *

 **Please tell me what you think!**

 **~Marvelgeek42**


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